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Biggest money mistake costing Aussies $1,040 a year

Forgetting to cancel free trials and letting gift cards expire are just two ways Aussies are wasting their hard-earned cash.

Eliza Bavin
·Personal Finance Editor
Updated ·2-min read
Australian money piled on top of itself and a crowd of people walking down the street.
Aussies are wasting their money on these simple mistakes. (Source: Getty)

Millions of Aussies are guilty of making mistakes when it comes to their money, according to new research.

Around two in five – equivalent to 8.3 million Australians – have made a financial blunder in the past 12 months, according to a new Finder survey of 1,090 respondents.

Forgetting to cancel a free trial (17 per cent), letting a gift card expire (14 per cent), and going over data limits (13 per cent) are the most common financial errors Australians have made in the past 12 months.

Finder personal finance expert Taylor Blackburn said many Aussies could relate to making careless mistakes when it came to their finances.

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“Keeping track of all your expenses – especially the automatic ones – can be a challenge,” Blackburn said.

“But turning a blind eye can cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars if you aren’t vigilant. Having just one $20-per-month subscription you aren’t using will set you back $240 a year. If that service costs $20 a week, now you are talking about $1,040 wasted in 12 months.”

How to make an extra $564 a year

The research also found 9 per cent of Aussies had missed out on their bonus savings rate.

Blackburn said the difference between the bonus savings rate and the standard rate could be more than 5 per cent a year.

“Missing out on bonus interest from your savings rate is a much bigger deal now than it used to be. With rates at 5.5 per cent p.a. there is big interest to be made."

Someone with $10,000 in a bonus savings account at 5.5 per cent p.a. would make $564 a year in interest.

That same person would make just $10 in a year if they were to miss the bonus rate and get 0.10 per cent p.a.

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